KRYPTONITE

CHAPTER 11

At Walter's outburst, Ralph stirred in his sleep, so Paige grabbed the frustrated man's arm and pulled him toward the kitchen area shushing him. He stumbled along next to her, pointing at her and babbling, "See? That's it. That's why. It's the Theory of Repetitive Outcomes like Happy said."

Paige looked confused and a little exasperated. "What? What kind of theory? What are you trying to say?"

Walter squeezed his eyes shut in agitation. "I'm awful at this. You know I'm awful at this."

Paige's tone gentled. "Just slow down. I'm trying to understand."

"Because you are always saying you're going to leave me! Scorpion is not more important to me than you or Ralph, but I have to preserve Scorpion because I can't lose everything I care about, every safe place I have, all at one time."

"Walter, I'm not always saying I'm going to leave. And I'm sorry I sometimes say things I don't mean when I'm angry or scared, but it doesn't mean I'd go through with it," she said, her face filling with compassion and concern.

This seemed to upset Walter further and he glared at her, "I'm difficult. Aggravating. You won't stay."

"Maybe all I need is a good reason to stay. Give me a reason and I'll fight tooth and nail to stay right here with you."

"I LOVE YOU!" Walter roared, "Isn't THAT reason enough?!"

With that pronouncement, he snatched his arm out of her grasp and stalked toward the back of the garage. Paige glanced at Ralph to see if by some miracle he was still asleep. To her relief, she saw that he was, so she took off after Walter.

He was almost to the back door before she stopped him, grabbing at his arm again. She said, "You can't say something like that and just leave! Talk to me!"

But Walter was done talking.

He spun her around and shoved her back against the door. Yanking her hands above her head, he bracketed her wrists with his hands to hold them in place. He pushed his body's full length against hers. Breathing in staccato bursts, his eyes black with intensity, he stared at her for an instant before attacking her mouth with his.

This kiss was far from awkward and sweet, or hesitant and soft. This kiss was savage and passionate and hot and bruising. Punishing. He was punishing her for making him feel so damn much.

Walter's tongue thrust past her lips, plundering her mouth aggressively. But Paige was in no way intimidated. She moaned against his lips and sucked and nipped at his tongue, stroking it with her own, making his knees go weak and wobbly and his head spin. Unable to put her hands on him, she twined one of her legs around one of his and pulled at him, trying to bring him closer.

Releasing her right wrist, Walter slowly trailed his fingers down her arm to her shoulder to her soft breast. He palmed her there and gently squeezed before sliding his hand down and around her body, crushing her to him. Paige arched into him and slipped her freed hand under the tail of his shirt scoring his back with her nails and then soothing it in light circles.

Breaking away from her lips, he released her other wrist only to lace his fingers with hers. He buried his face in her neck and found the silky spot under her ear grazing it with his teeth. Then he began sucking, wanting to mark her. Brand her as his.

Her whimper shot right through every part of him. "Stay. Stay with me," Walter panted against her skin, his voice rough and gravelly.

"Tonight? Or for good?" Paige murmured, sounding raspy.

"Yes," he whispered.

She kissed him greedily again before pulling away slightly and gasping, "Walter. Wait. I want to stay tonight, but Ralph is here. There's no privacy. We don't have any of our things here."

Walter clung to her as if he was afraid she would vanish if he let go, and he made a soft sound of protest in his throat as he crushed his mouth to hers again.

Pulling away and laying her head on his shoulder, she put a hand against his chest to hold him off a little, and giggled breathlessly, "Why don't you come home with us. We can spend the weekend together at my place. I think Ralph would like that. I know I would."

He may not have grasped quite everything she'd just said, but he heard the words 'come home with us' and that penetrated the fog in his mind. He nodded, heart still thundering, his cheek against her hair. Walter hugged Paige to him another minute before releasing her and heading to the loft to get…what? He couldn't quite remember, but he was sure it would come to him.

"Oh, and Walter?"

He looked back at her. Paige was standing there looking thoroughly mussed and gorgeous with a smug grin on her face. "I love you more."

"Not possible. Love cannot be quantified, so your theory is unsound," he answered, shaking his head and continuing toward the stairs.

"…and he's back," she said under her breath, beaming.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

Cabe thought it would be safe to call even though it was just past seven. Walter was usually up early even on Saturdays. The genius didn't sleep much especially if he had a project going.

So, when the phone rang four times and a groggy voice said, "Uh…Yeah?" Cabe was concerned at first, because he thought Walter might be sick.

So he asked, "You okay there, son?"

He got an affirmative answer, so he shrugged and started into his purpose for calling, "Sorry if I woke you, Walt, but I just got off the phone with Katherine. You know the address book you found?"

"Mm hmm," was the reply.

"It was a gold mine! It had all the names and addresses of the distributers for Helping Hands. Not only were we able to seize the ammo Helping Hands had at the warehouse, we are now able to track down what had already been sold. It's great news. This went a long way to redeem Scorpion in the eyes of the military and law enforcement. I thought you'd want to know."

Walter sniffed, "Yep. Uh, thanks."

Then Cabe heard a feminine voice in the background say sleepily, "Walter? Who is it?" The homeland agent's mouth dropped open.

He heard Walter answer, "It's Cabe."

"Is everything okay?" The female voice asked. Wait. Was that Paige?

And Cabe thought, about damned time and chuckled to himself before disconnecting. Everything was obviously just fine.

AN: And that's a wrap! Hope you enjoyed it. Please review and let me know what you thought. Feedback keeps us writers writing!